Foul Play
by SlytherinQueen87
Summary: Hermione is an unspeakable working on a difficult case. A man has died, of no apparent cause, and she has to determine what happened. When things get too complicated, she enlists the help of Severus Snape, her prickly ex-professor. HgSS


Ch. 1/ Nothing  
  
AN: Hey everyone, I've decided to try my hand at two firsts for me: a mystery and a SS/HG fic, all rolled into one. So, any opinions/suggestions/critiques, send them my way via review or e-mail. Without futher ado, chapter 1:  
  
Hermione had hit a dead end in her case. A first for her. When confronted with a problem, Hermione Anne Granger solved it. She didn't punk out and quit. Today was another story though. She had no leads; no more wild conjectures; no clues. She had nothing.  
  
The case should have been an open and shut one. At first sight, it was textbook. An old wizard by the name of Eldrien Mcdore had died from heart failure. Not uncommon even in the wizarding world. There was no dark mark. No reason to suspect foul play.   
  
So why had she been sent here? She was an unspeakable, not a bloody medic! There had to be something she was missing. She paced around the room once more. This might take more work than she had previously anticipated.   
  
"Accio camera," she called.   
  
An old camera came floating to her upon command. She removed the lens and manually altered the zoom. Then, she began to snap pictures mercilessly until she was sure nothing in the room had gone un-photographed. She whistled and a pretty barn owl came swooping in.   
  
"Take this film to Atticus. Make sure that he develops it right away. Peck him until he complies," Hermione told the bird conspiratorially.   
  
The bird hooted gleefully and glided out the open window. By this time, Hermione was in a thoroughly bad mood. It was 2 o'clock, she had no leads, and she wanted lunch dangit!   
  
"Dorian!" she called.   
  
A beautiful young man with brown hair and a young boyish face entered the room. He was an arrogant, somewhat secretive person. He was also Hermione's partner. The Ministry seemed to feel they would make the perfect team. Dorian needed a good influence, someone hard working and clever. Thusly, she had gotten herself landed with him. He could be quite clever if he felt the need, though he generally didn't.  
  
"You called?" he said sardonically.  
  
"Yes, I did. Listen, I am taking an extended lunch break. See that this house is not entered until I return."  
  
"Alright," he agreed in a dutifully bored voice.   
  
"Oh, do you want me to bring you anything back?" she asked, in half-assed attempt to be thoughtful.  
  
After all, she was taking away his lunch break. The least she could do was bring the arrogant bastard something back. Dorian smirked and began to rattle off the many things she could bring him back, some which were not very pleasant. 'So much for civility,' she thought.   
  
She apparated away without a backward glance and landed in the middle of a small kitchen somewhere in the heart of London. Chairs scraped as their occupants turned to look at her bemusedly.  
  
"Hermione, we were beginning to think you weren't going to show!" Ron exclaimed.   
  
"Yeah, lunch was," Harry checked his watch, "two hours ago."  
  
"I'm sorry guys," Hermione said, pulling herself out a plate from the cabinet. "I just got caught up in my work. I have this unbelievably difficult case right now. Of course, I can't really tell you about it. Not that there is anything to tell because I have absolutely nothing!" she babbled, scooping liberal amounts of macaroni onto her plate.  
  
Ron and Harry looked on in amusement. They were used to Hermione giving tantalizing hints about her work, often saying more than she ought to, but babbling was not something she generally did.   
  
"Don't worry Herm, I'm sure something will show up," Harry said encouragingly.  
  
"You guys know I hate it when you call me that!" she admonished through a mouth full of potatoes.  
  
"Yeah, that's why we do it," Ron piped up. "Are there any potatoes left?" he added.  
  
Hermione nodded, and Harry chuckled.  
  
After Hermione was through with her speed eating, she looked around the room.   
  
"Are those new curtains?" she asked pointing near the kitchen window.  
  
"No. They've been up for two months, Hermione," Harry said gently.  
  
The two boys gave her an admonishing look.  
  
"Oh. Sorry. Well, you know I've been busy with my work lately."  
  
"We know Hermione. We think you might be working a little too hard. You just need to chill out a little. I know your breakup with Yanci didn't go well, but you can't just bury yourself in your work like this."  
  
"Yanci! This has absolutely nothing to do with this," she argued.   
  
"Hermione, he moved out without even telling you-" Ron started.  
  
"I told him to move out!" she cried exasperatedly.  
  
"As the case may be, but we'd still feel better if you were to come with us to the beach next weekend," Harry said nonchalantly.  
  
"The beach?" Hermione squealed.  
  
"Yes, the beach. So you coming willfully or shall I find the rope?" Ron asked grinning.  
  
"Well, I do have a lot of work to do-"  
  
Harry gave her an incredulous look.  
  
"But I'll come!" she said finally.   
  
With that, she put her dish in the sink and headed towards the door.  
  
"Where are you going?" Ron asked incredulously.  
  
"To work, of course. I have to finish this case if I am going to take time off."  
  
The boys rolled their eyes.  
  
Back at the work scene, Hermione continued to pace the house. She decided there was no better place to start than with the body. She had done the basic charms when she had first arrived, but there were still a few left to try.   
  
"Cat scan," she said flicking her wand upwards.   
  
Cat scan was a new spell developed by a muggle born wizard to mimic the muggle machinery. As she said the spell, a long piece of paper appeared with illustrations of the internal organs of the man.   
  
"Accio Gray's Anatomy," she said.   
  
It was amazing how useful muggle techniques could be for the open-minded. She flipped to a sketch of the human anatomy. She looked at the vital organs and then at the sketch. Everything was in place. There was no curse damage. Nothing! Absolutely nothing. She rolled the two papers up and bound them with a quick spell.  
  
"Creatio blood sample," she called.   
  
A small container of blood appeared miraculously. She placed it next to the sketches. She could take it to the lab tonight and analyze it.   
  
"Accio pricker," she said.  
  
A small instrument came to her, and she let it rest on the man's arm so that she could get a small skin sample. You never know what oddities might be found in the skin. Perhaps a slow-acting poison had been injected and had already left the blood stream.   
  
Most of her information could be gotten from the medic who pronounced him dead, but it was always good to have your own information, just in case.  
  
It was going to be a long night.  
  
AN: Sorry, it is mega short, but I am afraid that is simply the way it is for now. Most of my chapters are longer than this. I wanted it as a kind of prologue/prelude type thing, but that doesn't exist on fanfiction.net, so there ya' go. Please review. 


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